News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
To ensure your classes have course packs on Monday, August 24, please submit your materials to printing services as soon as possible! Packets received after Monday, July 27 cannot be guaranteed completion because of the time it can take to confirm copyright information.
If you have any questions, please contact Kassie Hansen, printing services, at x8101 or printjobs@up.edu.
Academic technology services & innovation will be offering a weekly series of “Wednesday Webinars” and “Moodle Mondays” to support faculty who are preparing for hybrid and online instruction this fall. UP faculty can find all session times, details, and RSVP forms on the Hybrid & Online Basecamp Moodle page.
For more information contact ATSI at atsi@up.edu.
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a mid-year open enrollment period will be offered to benefited employees starting on Wednesday, July 15, and will run through Tuesday, July 21, 2020. During this mid-year open enrollment, benefited employees can elect prospective changes to existing flexible spending accounts, enroll in a flexible spending account and/or make changes to their healthcare elections which includes add/drop coverage or change plan selections. Any change requests made during this special open enrollment will go into effect August 1, 2020.
Many people have been unable to spend their childcare or medical FSA funds due to inability to access care due to COVID shutdowns, so this would allow employees to stop contributing to FSA accounts when they are unable to have expenditures. For the healthcare, some people may want to change to the costlier plan if they are in need of monetary savings due to the economy, or some may need coverage when it wasn’t needed before.
Change request forms will be posted on the Open Enrollment page of Pilots UP at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. No action will be needed from employees who choose not to make changes during this mid-year open enrollment period. The standard annual enrollment will occur in the Fall of 2020 for coverage effective January 1, 2021.
For more information contact Laura Barnard, human resources, at x8752 or barnardl@up.edu.
We are pleased to announce the endowment of the Rowena B. Bramlette ’88 Financial Affairs Division International Accounting Scholarship, established in memory of Rowena Bramlette ’88. Rowena served the University for 14 years and retired from her position of associate vice president for budgeting in 2019. She passed away after a courageous battle with cancer in January 2020. Prior to his retirement as vice president of financial affairs, Alan P. Timmins ’81 had nurtured the idea to create a scholarship in Rowena’s memory. Initial funding was provided by Alan and members of the Controller’s Office. Rowena’s husband, Rod Bramlette has added his support to the scholarship along with the President’s Leadership Cabinet. The Rowena B. Bramlette ‘88 Financial Affairs Division International Accounting Scholarship will be given each year to an outstanding senior, non-US born, accounting student.
In remembrance of Rowena, University employees and members of the faculty may contribute to her scholarship by using this link. To inquire on how you can make your donation through payroll deduction, please contact Kati Duffy, development, at duffyk@up.edu.
The Office of International Education, Diversity, and Inclusion is excited to invite faculty and staff to join us on Thursday, July 30 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. as we engage in meaningful peer-to-peer conversations about race. We will host three conversations for you to choose from on the following works, please read or watch one of the materials below in preparation for the conversations:
You will need to RSVP to these conversations Monday, July 27 so that we can assign you to a group.
We are also seeking facilitators for these discussions. Facilitators are not trainers. These are peer-to-peer conversations. We are looking for facilitators who are comfortable helping manage conversation flow and reminding the group of community standards if appropriate. Structure and discussion questions are available here.
If you have a discussion or affinity group already established or would like to have a conversation as an office unit, please share with us what you are doing and let us know if you would like us to help you invite others or if we can help with logistics.
Email oiedi@up.edu with questions, comments, or accommodation requests and check this link for updates. Finally, don’t forget to RSVP here.
Summers in Oregon with clear night skies offer impressive views of the stars and planets from The Bluff. For over 50 years, the Starr Observatory stood behind the Commons as a beacon for astronomy enthusiasts. To learn more, follow this link.
The Pamplin School of Business welcomes Tyson Distinguished Professor Gary Malecha as interim dean. Malecha joined the UP history and political science faculty in 1992 and regularly teaches courses on Congress, the Presidency, administration and public policy, American political thought, and food politics and policy in the United States and Europe. He is currently the faculty athletic representative at UP and served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2017-2018. 
Throughout the campus closure, custodial services personnel have been performing cleaning and disinfecting in all campus buildings. Custodial services is also taking the time to perform deep cleaning in all residential spaces and academic buildings. Each worker has received training and is equipped with necessary tools and products to perform their job, including germicidal cleaner.
To prioritize the health and safety of everyone, custodial services has discontinued cleaning private offices. This will allow custodians to prioritize disinfecting frequently touched surfaces. If you would like trash or recycling service, please place it outside your office by 9 p.m., Sunday – Thursday. Custodians will continue to service reception and shared areas. Office suites will be provided cleaning solution should you wish to clean your space. The service of cleaning private offices will be reassessed as the situation evolves.
As the campus opens back up, frequently touched surfaces will be disinfected multiple times a day. Custodial services has purchased additional disinfecting equipment, including misting systems to clean areas more efficiently and effectively. Hand sanitizer stations are being added throughout campus as well.
For more information contact Marissa Grice, physical plant, at grice@up.edu.
Recreational services is offering NEW online virtual fitness classes in July on MS Teams! Classes will begin on Monday, July 6th. Please see the schedule below.
- Mondays at 12:1 5pm – Yoga Sculpt with Sammy
- Tuesdays at 5 pm – Conditioning and Flexibility with Cameron
- Wednesdays at 12:15 pm – HIIT with Brie
- Tuursdays at 12:15 pm – Zumba with Megan
- Fridays at 10:15 am – HIIT with Brie
- Sundays at 10:1 5am – HIIT with Brie
Information services has learned that the Chronicle of Higher Education recently suffered a data breach, most likely in February 2020. The breach affected approximately 3.5 million Chronicle of Higher Education users, some of whom are University of Portland students, faculty, and staff. The stolen credentials from the breach have also been discovered on publicly accessible sources.
If you have a Chronicle account, change your password immediately. If you have used the same or a similar password for any other account, those passwords should be changed as well.
Individuals can also contact The Chronicle of Higher Education support at 1-833-579-1097, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., ET to inquire with any further questions regarding one’s account.
Please feel free to contact Andrew Ridenour, information security analyst, at ridenour@up.edu or x7626.